Long Live The King
by Megiido
Summary: It seems like a lifetime ago that Frisk fell into the Underground and made it out. Now living on the surface, she has no memory of the monsters, much less the ones she had to kill out of self defense. But when contacted by an old acquaintance, she finds out that the Underground is worse off than she thought, and that she may be the only one able to stop its dictator: Mettaton.
1. Chapter 1- Before

**Disclaimer: I do not own Undertale.**

 **This takes place after a Neutral Run.**

* * *

It was a beautiful day outside. The sky was a clear, cloudless blue, with the golden sun shining brightly over the landscape. The grass and trees rustled with animals. A squirrel poked its head out from a tree branch, scanning its surroundings.

A mountain, carved out of purplish gray stone, rose in the background of the forest it loomed over. It casted a shadow on the leaves, a silent and sturdy guardian.

All was quiet.

The serene mood was broken by a low rumbling. The squirrel, which had come out of from the safety of the branches to look for food, scampered back to its tree in terror. The mountain shuddered slightly. A brief flash of light illuminated the surrounding area, and the mountain trembled one last time.

The light dimmed, and nothing else was seen.

Suddenly, a small shape stumbled out of the mountain. It staggered into the forest, swaying from one foot to the other. It collapsed onto the grass.

It got up, clutching something to its chest. It looked down and slowly opened its hands.

A small but fierce glow spills through its fingers. The glow softened for a moment, and a heart-shaped object could be seen in the figures hands. The heart pulsed once, and the light that surrounded it began to diminish.

The figure holding the heart gasped and put its hands to its face, trying to stop the light from disappearing. The heart's brilliance faded away completely, and all that was left was the white heart. It looked very vulnerable, as if the glow somehow protected it.

The heart shivers. The figure shivers along with it.

The heart, no bigger than a large diamond but infinitely more precious, shattered without so much as a whisper.

The figure stared at it empty hands for a while. It puts them back on its chest, shoulders hitching with hushed sobs. It then takes off through the forest, tears streaming down its dusty cheeks, tracing silvery patterns of water in the air.

It doesn't look back.

The area returns to its quiet state. Leaves rustled in the gentle breeze. Birds chirp.

Eventually, the sun goes down.

Night covered the sky like a dark blanket of stars. The diurnal animals go to sleep, and the nocturnal ones come out.

Silence.

The sun comes up. It goes down.

Days pass. Quite possibly weeks. Months, maybe?

Flowers bloom, and wither. Animals come and go. Trees grow and die, a cycle of life.

The sun comes out once more.

As the day passed, it started to sink lower and lower in the sky, ready to leave.

Its dying light bathed the forest in shades of orange and yellow. It spilled through the trees, until a ray fell upon an object in the grass.

A cell phone.

Miraculously, it began to ring. Once, twice, three times.

But no one was there to pick it up.

The phone finally stopped ringing. A beep sounded from it, indicating there was a message. The phone auto played it, and a voice came from the device.

"Heya. Is anyone there?"

The voice waits for a second.

"Well, I'll just leave a message…

"So, it's been a while. Since you left, things have...gotten interesting. With Asgore gone, the people looked to Undyne to rule...but she was nowhere to be found. So Mettaton just kind of...took over?"

The voice then lowered to a whisper.

"He's brainwashed everyone with his stupid TV show. And made the into his personal paradise. It's honestly...kinda disturbing."

The voice goes back to its normal volume.

"As for me? Oh yeah...I'm his agent."

There was a rustling sound as the phone was passed to another person. The second person, presumably Mettaton, spoke up, sounding much more enthusiastic than the first speaker.

"Hey there, darling! Thank you so much for your hard work. Thanks to you, the Underground is more exciting than ever!"

Mettaton's tone became dreamy.

"Ooh la la...statues, monuments to my beauty...flowers in the arrangement of my name...hedges in the shape of my smile…

"Under my rule, the Underground's problems are over, baby! Crowding? Dreariness? Who needs the sun when you've got the spotlight!? Economic collapse? Education problems? What!? Everything's covered in golden glitter! There are no problems, beautiful!

"And, I've instated a new policy on humanity. If a human falls down here...they can join my fan club for free!

"Oh, you might be wondering about Alphys. Don't worry! I built a statue of her, too."

Mettaton hesitated. When he talked again, he sounded subdued.

"Really though. I realized I was...not the greatest to her. So I went to apologize. And, to ask her to help me rule."

A pause.

"But I couldn't find her. Trust me, I looked."

Another pause. Mettaton spoke up again, but this time, his happiness sounded...slightly forced.

"Anyway, I hope your life after meeting me...has been worth living. It must be a struggle. Please, think of me always. Just constantly. Think of me posing. Beautifully.

"Oh yessss!"

He stopped, and another person could be heard in the background.

"Oh, my other agent wants to talk."

The phone was passed over again. A loud yell came from it, causing a few birds to flutter from tree branches.

"Hey! It's me, Papyrus! Imagine me wearing cool glasses, and a suit. And imagine Sans wearing sunglasses being a bouncer. That's our life...it's so cool! Things have gotten way better since you came here!"

Papyrus's voice became skeptical. It sounded like he was frowning.

"Well, minus the fact that everything sucks...for anyone that doesn't worship Mettaton. And minus the fact that my friend Undyne is missing. Who knows where she went."

His voice got sorrowful.

"I miss her a lot sometimes."

But he brightened up quickly.

"If you see her, can you tell her I said hi? Thanks! See you later!"

The phone made a clicking noise, and it fell silent once more.

And it stayed silent for many more days to come.


	2. Chapter 2- Calendars Are Boring

The sound of the alarm cuts through her dreams like a knife. She rolls over, bleary-eyed, and smacks her hand on top of her nightstand, trying to find the button that would silence the persistent beeping.

Her hand finds its target. With a click, the noise stops, and she groans. Rolling onto her back, she pulls her covers up, trying to shut out the soft morning light streaming through her window. Why must the most effective alarms always put you in an I Don't Want To Get Up mood? Sure, Careless Whisper put you in a weirdly romantic state of mind for most of the morning, but at least it sounded nice.

She groans again, wanting to stay in bed for all eternity. Or for as long as her latest project took. Only calendars could take all the fun out of photography.

With an effort that seemed to take the strength of a thousand monsters (Monsters? Where the heck did that come from?), she lifted her covers off and sat up. Rubbing her eyes, she stared blankly at the far wall, contemplating her existence for a bit. She yawns hugely and stands up, walking slowly to the bathroom.

Not stopping to look in the mirror, she heads straight towards the shower. Twisting the water on, she sighs contentedly as it flows warmly over her body.

She had been having a lot of odd dreams lately. Most of them had some stuff that would put her in one of those comfy jackets with the arms that tied around your back, which is saying something. But all of them had one thing in common. They all ended with a huge mountain that towered over a beautiful green forest.

The most recent dream was also, in her opinion, the eeriest one she'd had. It was a dark room, totally pitch-black. In the middle of the room, illuminated by a bright light, was a plant. A plant with a face, more precisely. And it was screaming some of the most crude profanity she had ever heard in her entire 20 years of life.

And then it began to melt as if someone had poured acid on it. The profanity turned into cries for mercy.

Nobody could expect that from a tiny weed.

But despite what anybody might think, she found it creepy. Hands down. Okay, maybe not as creepy as the one where she was inside of a place that was on fire and nobody saved her, but it was definitely up there.

Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen the mountain before. It probably had something to do with her childhood. Which was pretty messed up, as far as childhoods go.

She couldn't remember much, only the fact that she had fallen off of a cliff or something and had vanished for a few weeks. After the people in her village found her, they went nuts and started talking about "the creatures under the surface". Needless to say, it freaked her out. But the odd thing was: she had no memories of what had happened when she went missing.

These thoughts ran through her head as she stepped out of the steamy shower, wrapped a towel around herself, and brushed her teeth.

She strode into her bedroom and pulled out her favorite, if slightly worn down, long-sleeved shirt. Tugging it over a pair of jeans, she went into the kitchen.

She poured herself a cup of coffee, idly humming a tune to herself. A buzz came from across the table, and she reaches for her phone. Looking through a bunch of random emails, she finally checks the message that was sent. Her eyes widen, and she almost spits out her coffee.

"No way." she mutters, placing the cup down and scrolling through the message. Her fingers rapidly swipe the screen at an effort to read the message faster.

"Oh my GOD!" she yells, setting her phone on the table with a slight thunk. She slumps over the back of her chair, staring at the ceiling. She groans halfheartedly.

"Now I have to change my entire schedule. Thanks a lot, boss."

* * *

They all met up at the loft that was located right above the photography studio. She sits down on a stool, putting her camera bag on the floor next to her.

"So, why are we changing locations this late into the photo shoot?" she asks the person next to her.

The other woman fiddles with her long, honey blond hair. "Frisk, you know how much Stanson loves to change things late into everything. Besides," she leans over towards Frisk. "I'm pretty sure we'll get an more interesting spot this time."

Frisk frowns slightly. "But all spots are interesting, Olivia."

"Yes, I know. But by interesting, I mean it may have an interesting backstory." Olivia taps her chin, thinking. "Like Mirror Lake. That would be a nice change of pace. Or another city." She glances at Frisk, who had picked up her camera bag and was double-checking that all of her equipment was inside. "Deserts are nice, but this is the seventh one we've been to."

"Wherever it is, it better not be too far away. I don't want to change my schedule again."

Olivia shrugs. "Knowing Stanson, we'll be home at ten, at the very least."

Frisk sighs, zipping up her bag. "Great."

A man then struts into the room, carrying a tablet in the crook of his arm. He looks around at all the photographers in the room. Taking out a stylus, he scribbles something on the tablet, and clicks it off. He sets the device onto the nearest table and claps his hands.

"Alright people!" he yells. "I'm sorry about the sudden change of plans, but this'll all work out in the end."

"That's what you say every time." Frisk mutters under her breath, causing Olivia to burst into a fit of giggles.

Stanson glares at her and continues talking. "This time, we're not going to add another desert to the calendar. That will make it too boring."

Frisk was about to say something derogatory towards calendars, but then thought better of it.

"We'll all be splitting up in groups, and going to five different places. Whichever group gets the best shots of said places will get their shots in the calendar! Isn't that great?" His enthusiasm was met with silence.

Stanson fake pouts. "Come on, guys, show some gusto!"

Olivia politely raises a hand. "It's kind of hard to be excited about calendars, Stanson."

Their boss rubs his hands gleefully together. "You're going to get excited once you find out where you're going."

Frisk raises and eyebrow, resting her chin on her hand. "Oh really? And where are we going that's so interesting?"

If possible, Stanson's smile gets even wider. A mischievous glint shines in his eyes as he picks up the tablet, getting ready to walk out of the room. "Mount Ebott."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Annnnndddd here's where things start to get interesting!**


	3. Chapter 3- Don't Trust Old Phones

"When I said I wanted a place with an interesting backstory, I meant a nice one with a bit of mystery, not a horror show."

"Horror show? This place can't be that bad."

"Frisk dear, do you not know what's been going on here? Mount Ebott has one crazy history."

One crazy history, huh? Just like me, Frisk thought as she set up her camera, pointing towards the mountain. "And how bad is this history that you call it a horror show?"

Olivia stood up, placing her hands on her hips. "It actually goes back a _really_ long time ago, but the gist of it is this: Every few years or so, a kid goes missing here." She waves a hand at Mt. Ebott. "And just like a horror movie cliché, they never turn up again."

"Great. Now the calendar's going to have a nomination for the Top 10 Creepiest Places on Earth." Frisk looks through her camera, adjusting the settings. "Not that I really mind. This place is pretty nice looking."

"Yep. Which is probably why kids were attracted to it in the first place. Big forest. Endless adventures. And get this." Olivia leans forward as if sharing a secret. "The mountain took adults too. They climbed to the top, and it wasn't for sightseeing."

Frisk suddenly feels sick. She glances at Mt. Ebbot with a mingled expression of disgust and uneasiness. "Wow." No wonder this place gave her an odd feeling when she saw it. Even though it looked innocent.

"The funny thing is, I feel as if I've been here before. Like when I was a kid or something."

Olivia shrugs, continuing to set up her equipment. "Deja vu, maybe."

"Yeah…" Frisk knew it was much more than that, but she just couldn't place her finger on it.

Olivia points towards the lush green forest that was in front of Mt. Ebott. "We'll take some shots out here, and then some from in the forest, okay?"

Frisk nods and looks through her camera again, trying to find the best angle for a picture. She thought about what her partner had said about Mt. Ebott's history.

If this place was that bad, then why did Stanson send them here in the first place? Maybe it had gotten safer over the years or something.

The two finish with the first shots, and they pack up to move into the forest.

Olivia decided that they would split up and then meet back where the entered the forest. Frisk agreed, and they parted ways to take more pictures of the mountain.

Frisk walks deeper into the forest, wanting to get as close to Mt. Ebbot as possible without actually getting too near it. She strolls through the forest, noticing the various animals that peeked out from the trees and bushes.

She stops at a patch of grass. Deciding that this was a perfect spot, Frisk takes out her camera, not bothering to set it up because of the grass she was in.

She snaps a few photos, moving around to get different angles of the mountain. She moves to her right a bit, and steps on something.

It definitely didn't feel like grass.

Frisk jerks her foot up in reflex, thinking she had squished some sort of small animal. She looks down, expecting to see the crushed body of a bird or a squirrel.

Considering what was going to happen next, the bird or the squirrel would've been the better option.

It was a cell phone, of all things. And an old one, at that.

Frisk tilts her head, staring at the chunky gray phone. What would a gadget like this be doing out here? She bends over to pick it up, and suddenly thinks of something.

Was it a dead person's phone?

Her hand shrinks back. That was ridiculous. Those people had disappeared a long time ago, and whatever objects they had been carrying must've been lost in the mountain itself or had been carried away by a foraging animal.

With that in mind, she reaches for the device. Her hand closes around it, and nothing could've prepared her for what happened next.

Her hand tightens painfully around the apparatus as if she had received an electric shock. She inhales sharply, and all her senses were thrown into overdrive.

Frisk could hear the rustling of every single leaf, every single blade of grass. She could see farther than the human eye, and she spies the very top of the mountain. She smells the earthy scent of the forest, and tastes the dewy mist in the air around her.

And just when things couldn't get any crazier, she was thrown outside of her body. At least, that's what it felt like.

She flies past what looks like scenes in a movie. Most of them didn't make any sense, but some she felt that she remembered, no matter how vague they seemed.

She sees a snow covered village, a beautiful waterfall, a bunch of machinery, and a grand castle. It was surrounded by smaller buildings, and the palace itself rose out of the darkness. The castle intrigued her the most.

The images start getting weirder. Two figures standing side by side, looking at a celebration that was taking place in a large ballroom. The same small town from the beginning, only this time, the quaint little houses had been replaced by gleaming skyscrapers that reached for the inky sky. A golden throne. A crown. A puddle of water, perfectly clear until its crystal surface was marred by a drop of crimson liquid. Several glass containers stacked on top of each other. A person running through murky woods. Floating hearts. And a tiny yellow flower.

Wait...flower? That looked familiar. But before Frisk could fully process all of the things that she saw, a voice boomed through all the images.

"Frisk, we need your help. Quickly, come to Mt. Ebott. You'll know what to do next…"

The voice vanishes, as do all the scenes. Frisk found herself floating in a void, but was quickly returned back to the forest.

Frisk found herself sitting in the soft grass, still grasping the phone. Her bottom hurt as if she had sat down too hard, too fast.

She wrenches her hand away from the device, trembling. Her breath comes out in short gasps. She eyes the device distrustfully, still panting.

She didn't want to touch it again. Hell, she wanted to leave this godforsaken place and never look back.

But something told her that she must follow the voice's instructions. In the back of her mind, she knew that if she left right now, forgetting about all of this, something terrible would happen. Something that might affect the whole world if gone unnoticed.

Frisk steels her nerves, stretching out to grab the phone again. Cautiously, she seizes it and waits for the whole trippy experience to begin once more.

But nothing happens. She slowly opens one eye, and then the other. She hadn't missed grabbing the phone.

Frisk stands up, handling the object gingerly. She turns it around, inspecting it. The phone was ancient. She spots her camera on the ground, and rushes over to pick it up.

Nothing damaged. That was a relief. She finds her camera bag, and she tucks both appliances into the bag. Hefting it over her shoulders, she looks at the mountain. It stands imposingly over the landscape. It seemed to be challenging her.

Frisk felt a rush of...something. She wanted to get to the bottom of this. She wanted to find out why of all people, she was the one who picked up the phone. Was it fate? Or was it something planned out?

She squares her shoulders, staring at Mt. Ebott with conviction. She begins to walk through the forest, getting closer to the mountain with every step.

Frisk was going to find out what this was all about, and nothing is going to stop her in doing so.

* * *

 **A/N:  
Got some exposition out of the way...  
Now the adventure's gonna start!**


	4. Chapter 4- Howdy, Please Kill Me

It happened so fast she almost didn't know why the sun had unexpectedly disappeared.

One minute, Frisk was climbing up the mountain, wishing that she had brought a bottle of water along with the camera. Then, without notice, she was falling, and the light above was shrinking, and the wind was whipping across her body, and-

Frisk lands with a thump. All the breath leaves her body in a small whoosh, and she rolls over, coughing. Her hands instinctively clench, and she feels something soft. Opening her eyes, she comes face to face with a batch of glittering yellow flowers. Frisk blinks and glances around. She had landed on a bed of those yellow flowers, and they had cushioned her fall somewhat. Frisk looks back at the blooms in front of her. She admires them for a second, and that's when she begins to sneeze uncontrollably.

Eyes watering, she manages to get up into a sitting position, where she continues to sneeze. She lifts a hand up to try and stifle the noises, and notices a fine dust covering her hand. At first Frisk thought it was pollen. She raises her hand to her face, squinting at the...sparkly, pink, glitter?

Frisk lets out a small groan of disgust. She wipes her hand on her jeans and looks down at the flowers. They were covered in glitter, which is why they looked like they were sparkling. She stands up, and glitter drifts down from her in tiny pink clouds. Frisk staggers away from the flowers, brushing the annoying sparkles from her clothes and bag. When the task was completed, Frisk hefts the bag over her shoulder, giving one last glance at the flowers. She turns around and sees a hallway that disappeared into the gloom of the mountain. Looking up, she sees a small pinprick of light.

 _Welp, there goes my only way out._

With nowhere else to go, she walks into the dim hallway. She feels her way along, sliding her hands down the cool, mossy walls of the mountain until her eyes adjust to the darkness. She doesn't know how long she was walking until she is met with an archway. Frisk strolls through it, still picking glitter out of her hair.

She notices a circle of grass illuminated by a beam of sunlight. There was nothing in the middle of it. Frisk stares at it. Something used to be there. She was sure of it. Frisk walks around the circle, heading towards the second archway at the end of the room.

Frisk suddenly stops. She slowly turns around, surveying the small, dim room. She feels as if she is being watched.

She is correct.

"Psst!"

Frisk spins around, almost falling over. She looks wildly in the direction the voice came from.

"Hey! Lady, I'm over here!" the voice whispers. Frisk slowly creeps over to the voice, all of her senses on high alert. She stops right in front of the dark corner where the voice was located, and sees something shift. A face pops out of the darkness, and Frisk stifles a scream.

"Hey hey hey. Don't yell or anything like that unless you want to get your face rearranged. Plus," the face bobs forward, and its whole body is revealed to Frisk, who steps back in astonishment. "Screaming is against the rules."

The small yellow flower burrows into the ground, and it pops up next to Frisk. She barely gets time to acknowledge its presence before a vine snakes up out of the ground, holding a piece of paper. The vine stops in front of the flower, and the plant scans it with the two lines on its face, which Frisk assumed to be eyes.

"Now, because I'm the host and you're the guest, I'm gonna read you the greetings." The flower clears its throat, and it begins to read from the paper in a monotonous tone.

"Welcome to the Underground, fellow…" the flower looks up at Frisk with a bored expression. "Human. I am your host, Flowey the flower, and I am here to tell you about the wonders of the place you have decided to visit. As I said before, this is the Underground, where many species of monsters have come to live together in peace. This is a diverse community with countless attractions, including but not limited to: MTT Resort and Hotel™, MTT Movie Studios™, The Official MTT Restaurant of Fabulousness™, MTT Gardens™, and much more. And if you're lucky, you may catch a glimpse of our astonishing, fantastic, marvelous, benevolent leader, who is probably the reason you came down here in the first place. The Capitol is where our wonderful king rules, and blah blah blah blah blah. Do you want to know the living conditions here? Well, pardon my French, but they're fucking terrible." Flowey looks back up at Frisk, who was about to fall asleep but was waken up by the plant's use of a curse word.

"You don't care about this, do you? I bet you don't. Everyone who fell down here told me to shut up before I finished this. So," the vine crawls away, and the flower sighs. "Tell me to shut up."

Frisk shakes her head, still bewildered by the fact that this flower looked exactly like the one in her dreams. "I'm not...wait a minute." She tilts her head, studying Flowey. "Is that a bow tie?"

Flowey groans exasperatedly. He looks down at his stem, which had a tiny black bow tie wrapped around it. He hisses, face contorting into something out of a nightmare. Pitch-black eyes with a small white dot in the middle of them, a mouth full of fangs, and a deep, growling voice to boot.

"I. Hate. This. Thing." he snarls, biting one end of the bow tie in his mouth. He jerks his head up, the bow tie stretching but not ripping. "And it can't be broken, which makes this even more WONDERFUL." Flowey lets go, and his face returns to normal. "Now, why did you come here? And I bet it has nothing to do with the king."

Frisk shakes her head again. She feels like a bobblehead. "I came here because...an acquaintance needs my help."

"Needs your help? Hah! It can't be that bad for you to come down here to the good old Underground." Flowey leans closer to Frisk, his head brushing her pants leg. "Look lady, I don't know where the hell you came from, but it's certainly better than here. Trust me."

Frisk frowns, her eyebrows knitting together. "No wonder. They contacted me through a phone, and they sounded pretty desperate, and…" she trails off, not wanting to tell the flower about the strange feeling she had when she first heard the voice.

"A phone, you say? Wait a minute." Flowey looks at her bag, a curious expression on his face. "If you still have it, can I have a look at it?"

Frisk obliges, setting the camera bag down and pulling out the clunky gray phone. Flowey peers at it, some more vines coming out if the ground to inspect the phone. He flips it over. "Well, well, well. Look at what we have here. That smiley trashbag did his job pretty damn well." The flower grasps the phone in one of his vines, holding it up. "That must mean…" His eyes flick over to the human, an expression of astonishment crossing his features. "Frisk?"

The woman blinks, slightly freaked out that this plant knew her name. "Yes?"

Flowey begins to shake. He growls, his eyes becoming pitch-black, then flickering back to normal. "That bastard. That conceited, egotistical _bastard_. Oh, he's gonna pay for what he's done to you, yes he is." The flower whips his head around to face Frisk, still shaking with anger. "Frisk, do you remember what's beyond that archway?"

A horrible thought begins to dawn on Frisk, and she tries to remember, tries to bring up any memory of the archway. "Um...no?"

Flowey suddenly stops shaking. His head droops down, and he seems to wilt. The vine sets the phone down with a tired thump. "You really don't remember, do you?" He sighs defeatedly. "And here we all were, thinking that we might be able to get out of this living hell once and for all."

"Living hell? How bad is this place? And why can't I remember anything?"

Flowey laughs humorlessly. "Let's see," he drawls, "Everything is being controlled by the government. The economy is shit, and there is virtually no education system. And did I mention that the new king is running a dictatorship where you can't say anything bad about him or he'll execute you? But here's the worst thing." The flower's voice drops to a low growl. "Nobody cares. They're too brainwashed by the fact that everything 'perfect'. They're blindly playing a never ending game of follow the leader, and this leader's gonna guide them right to their deaths." His voice returns to its normal pitch, and he glances at Frisk. "And about the memory thing. I don't know, but if you manage to find Sans, he might tell you. He has a better knowledge of magic than I do."

"Okay…and about the phone. Was this all planned? You said something about saving everyone down here." Frisk murmurs.

"Oh yeah. About that. As I said before, I don't know much about magic. All I know is that the spell cast on the phone was long, complicated, and tiring. Just go find Sans. He'll be of more use to you than me." The flower begins to retreat back into the dark corner he had come out of. "Good luck on your crazy adventure, lady."

Frisk suddenly shoots a hand out, stopping the flower from leaving. "Wait," she says. "If you want to, you can come with me. I've apparently lost my memory, so I won't know how to get past here, or to find Sans. And I don't think you're useless."

Flowey pauses. He looks at Frisk, a newfound expression of hope on his face. "Come...with you?"

Frisk nods.

The yellow flower is still. He burrows underground and pops up next to Frisk, and without warning, exits the ground and begins to slither up her leg. Frisk holds and arm out, allowing Flowey to wrap around her arm like some kind of weird bracelet.

"You're a light in this bleak world, lady. If you've come here to save us, I'm rooting for you all the way." Flowey looks ahead at the archway, a persistent tone in his voice. "And I'll be damned if I don't get to see you succeed."


	5. Chapter 5- Snowdin?

The duo passes under the second stone arch, and Frisk cranes her neck to get a better look at it. Dusty, dirty, and cracked, it didn't look like much of a grand entrance to anything. The space in front of it is pitch black. A freezing breeze whips up, and an eerie howling noise echoes throughout the tunnels. Frisk shivers slightly, hugging her camera pack closer to her chest.

Flowey had moved from her wrist to her back, and was currently resting on her shoulder. He squints, flattening himself against the cold.

"You got a light?" the flower asks. "Because we're not gonna make it far if we can't see."

In response, Frisk unzips her bag and fishes around in it, pulling out a flashlight. She flicks it on and sweeps the beam over the darkness. The lights passes over the purplish stone the walls were made out of. They closely resembled the rock that the mountain was made of, and Frisk had a feeling that this place had been carved right into the mountain. The moss that covered the cave walls earlier was now gone, replaced with layers of dust and cobwebs.

The lights shone downwards, resting on a pattern of six stones. Four of them were gone, presumably sunken into the ground. There was another opening located slightly to the left of the stones.

Frisk approaches the doorway. She notices a plaque on the wall next to it, the words faded away with the passage of time.

As she passed through the opening, Flowey spoke up. "This is gonna take too long. The Ruins are confusing if you haven't been here before-" the flower looks at Frisk. "I know you've came through this place at least once, but you don't remember. Plus, they're riddled with puzzles. I guess we were lucky the first one was already solved." He thinks for a moment. "And even if the others are as well, it'll still take awhile to get through this whole place." He unwraps himself from Frisk's arm, taking root in the dirt floor. "Follow me."

Frisk hesitated, slightly curious on what the Ruins could have in store. But Flowey was already leaving, so with a last glance at the room in front of her, she walked after the flower. He glided through the dirt, stem leaving a groove in the soil.

Frisk shone her flashlight on her surroundings. Nothing but stone and cobwebs. They seemed to be going down a narrow corridor, her feet leaving prints in the filmy dust that layered the floor. She redirected her light on Flowey, who kept on traversing into the darkness ahead.

After a few minutes of quietness, she finally spoke. "Someone used to live here, didn't they?"

Flowey turned his face slightly, not stopping. "Yeah. But we don't talk about it."

Faintly surprised by his short answer, Frisk decides not to say anything else on the topic. Instead, she switches gears. "And what's after this? The Ruins, I mean."

"Snowdin. Or, at least that's what it used to be called," Flowey does the equivalent of a human shrug, wiggling his stem. "I keep its original name. It doesn't sound as flashy."

Frisk switches the flashlight to her other hand. They had been going down the tunnel for around five minutes, and showed no signs of getting anywhere. "What's it called now?"

The flower begins to answer, until he suddenly looks up. He circles the spot he stopped on, kicking up a bunch of dirt. A vine slithers out of the ground, crawling up the walls, and in a few sweeping motions, uncovers a square hatch embedded in the ceiling. The vine gives it an experimental push before heaving it open. Chunks of dirt fell from the opening, exploding in puffs of soil.

Flowey gestures to the hatch. "I'll get you up." And without waiting to see if Frisk was ready, the vine wraps around her and gently lifts her up to the ceiling. Frisk places her hands on the floor above, pushing herself onto the cold floor. After safely getting her bag up, Frisk peers through the hatch. She spots Flowey on the ground.

"How are you getting up?" She asks. Flowey shakes his head.

"Just wait a second." And with that, he burrows under the ground.

A patch of dirt trembles near her hand, and Flowey pops out of it. He shakes the remaining clumps of soil from his petals, then straightens up.

They had appeared in front of another door, although unlike the one at the beginning of the Ruins, this one was closed. A faded symbol adorned the front of it, and it made no sound when pushed open by Frisk. The door opened up to another long hallway, and Frisk groaned inwardly. Why were there so many hallways?

The pair trudged down the corridor. The air smelled stale, and Frisk could tell no one had been in here for a very long time.

It didn't take long of them to reach an additional opening. After passing through another grassy patch that looked like the one Flowey had first appeared in, a similar door was encountered. This one had the same symbol, but it was above the door. It too, was faded away.

Frisk tested the doorknob with her free hand. It was locked. Instead of breaking it down, Flowey burrows underground once more and opens the door from the outside.

Frisk was met with a sudden blast of cold air. She coughs, shielding her face against the freezing wind. Snowflakes begin to settle on her arms and head as she slowly uncovers her face.

She switches off the flashlight, blinking in the stark whiteness of the snow. In front of her was a paved cement road, a light sprinkle of snow covering it. Piles of the stuff lined the road, along with the occasional bush. A dense cover of trees loomed behind the bushes, stretching out into the darkness.

As she looked above, she could see lights winking in the distance. If she squinted hard enough, she could make out the skyline of what looked to be a city, vaguely obscured by both the trees and the gently falling snow. It reminded her of New York City, in a sense.

Frisk felt Flowey climb up her arm as she took in the sights. It felt odd, to be in a place that looked so open but was actually under a giant mountain.

Flowey traces her line of sight to the skyscrapers ahead. He sighs. "That's where we're going next. If Sans is anywhere, it's probably there. But first," Flowey is on the floor as fast as he climbed up Frisk's arm. "We need to make you look a bit more believable."

Frisk looked at the flower questioningly. "As in more monster-like?"

Flowey bobs his head up and down. "Correct. A human hasn't fallen down here in a while, and people are gonna be staring at you wherever you go. Plus, we can't risk attracting the king's attention." With that, the flower pops up next to the nearest bush and begins to pull sticks and leaves off of it.

Frisk approaches Flowey, and he waves a vine in front of her face. It was clutching some twigs. "Put those under your sleeves."

The human does so, and crouches down to help Flowey. "What about you? You're a monster."

"About that. I'm not supposed to leave my post, so I'm gonna have to hide with you."

After a minute of leaf and stick gathering, they had successfully constructed a sort of costume for Frisk to wear. Leaves poked out from under her shirt, and sticks had been put in her hair. Her bag had been covered with vines, courtesy of Flowey.

She scratches uncomfortably at a twig that was poking her neck. "I'm a plant monster now. And I'm just strolling through the woods minding my own business. Oh, and looking for someone named Sans."

Flowey had perched himself on her shoulder again. He shrinks down, covering most of his stem. "Try not to say it so mechanically next time, okay?"

She rolls her eyes, and guided by Flowey, begins to make her way through the forest. It was a long walk, but she appreciated the sights as she went on her way.

The main road they were walking on split off into different trails, making Frisk realize that the Underground was bigger than she expected it to be. They pass shacks and cottages, whose occupants were thankfully inside their homes. They also walk by multiple stations, all of them adorned with a camera that recorded the view. The sign above each one of them read "Gard Station", with the s in "Station" being backwards.

As they go past a third terminal, Frisk whispers to Flowey. "Why do they need cameras?"

"To keep an eye on everyone. They used to have one guard at each place, but found out they were too unreliable. Just act natural."

Eventually, the amount of stations began to deplete. The buildings got closer, and with them, the noise. It started out a far-away chatter, but eventually grew louder. Frisk also noticed the gradual heat, as if the city itself radiated warmth.

Which it probably did, because the place was huge.

As soon as Frisk stepped foot on the city grounds, she couldn't keep herself from staring at the view. The skyscrapers gleamed in the night, the individual lights that came from the windows glowing. There seemed to be hundreds of them, the buildings stretching off even further than she could see. Streetlights lined the roads, bathing them in a pleasant yellow light. Shops and restaurants were crammed at the sides of the streets, their doors open and inviting.

And the monsters. There were hundreds of them, milling the streets of the city, each of them living their own lives. They laughed and talked, and Frisk noted that it was the noise she had heard earlier on. She could see monsters in the stores she passed, and they all looked so lively. It was still snowing, and it was still cold, but the warmth of the city kept it at bay.

Frisk turns to Flowey with an astonished look on her face. "This place is beautiful! It reminds me so much of home."

Flowey doesn't share her cheerfulness. His eyes dart around nervously, and he speaks to her in a low voice. "That's what I thought, too. But you won't believe the kind of stuff that goes on here." He gently nudges her forward. "Keep going."

With a slight protest, Frisk continues to walk. She notices a bakery, run by a nice-looking bunny lady. The smells that wafted from it were enough to make her stomach grumble. It was then that she realized that she hadn't eaten in awhile. When she told this to Flowey, he had just sighed and told her that they could stop at the next restaurant they saw.

A giant library dominated the place Frisk walked to next. It was so big, she almost thought it was a sort of university. Monsters sat on the steps leading up to its huge double doors, either reading books, talking, or eating. A stream of them entered and exited the library.

Frisk noticed the monsters carrying food, and traced them to a restaurant that was located right across the library. It was all dark steel and glass, giving it a fancy look. The luminescent sign above it glittered elegantly as an orange light jumped across the words, tracing them with a burning flash.

"Firestone Grill," Frisk muttered, and with a small squeak from Flowey, immediately began making a beeline towards the restaurant.

As she pushed open the glass doors, a blast of warm air, mixed with the wonderful smell of meat cooking, met Frisk. She barely registered the other monsters sitting at the tables around her as she made her way to the bar.

She pulled up a stool, taking a menu from a place at the bar. As she skimmed through it, she noticed a flickering light standing in front of her. With a small start, she sets the menu down and looks at the waiter.

They seemed to be a human made entirely of fire. Somehow, they were wearing a black vest over a white dress shirt, and in front of where their eyes were supposed to be hung a pair of rectangular glasses. They had a cleaning rag in their hands, and were slowly wringing it out.

Frisk tried not to look too startled. "Um, hi."

They nodded politely and gestured at the menu. Frisk mumbled a bit, cheeks growing warm, and gave her order to them.

As they left, Flowey hissed in her ear, making her jump again. Luckily, no one seemed to be looking at them.

"Real subtle, lady. You're lucky he didn't get too suspicious."

Frisk huffed, crossing her arms. "I was distracted."

"Yeah, okay. Just don't do anything too human-y. And stop doing whatever the heck you're doing. You look like a tomato."

This just made Frisk blush even harder, and she was about to reply to Flowey until someone pulled up a stool next to them. Frisk stopped and pretended to look through the dessert menu, hoping whoever it was didn't notice that she was talking to herself. The restaurant's light was pretty dim, however, and she relaxed when the fire monster came with her food.

As she thanked them, the person next to them ordered something as well, and struck up a conversation with the waiter. As they talked, Frisk finished her food, and the waiter noticed it. He placed a piece of paper in front of her and waited expectantly.

Frisk broke out in a sweat. _I forgot money._ As she placed her bag down and began rummaging for cash she knew she wouldn't find, Flowey began muttering a string of curses into her ear, which really didn't make things any better.

Frisk was beginning to debate whether to make a run for it when the person next to them spoke up.

"Don't worry about it, Grillby. Put the lady's meal on my tab."

Flowey stopped cursing, mostly out of astonishment. Frisk sat up, equally surprised, as Grillby plucked the bill up from the bar. He gives a nod to both people, and whisks away to take another order.

Frisk turned to thank the person beside her, but they were gone. For a split second she was left wondering where they had gone until a hand falls on her shoulder.

She stifles a scream, and Flowey lets out a low growl. A chuckle sounds from behind them, and the same voice speaks again.

"You're not from around here, are you? I can tell. Now, let's get outta here so I can get a good look at you."

Frisk slowly walks out of the restaurant, heart pounding in her chest. Flowey hadn't made a noise since they both got startled, and Frisk couldn't hear if he was saying anything.

They are led to the side of the building, and she notices that the weight of the person's hand had been lifted from her shoulder. As she feverently searches for them once more, a figure steps out from the shadows of the restaurant.

Her head whips around to looks at them. She could feel Flowey tightening his vine around her arm, and he begins to hiss.

The figure suddenly stops in mid-walk. A surprised noise is heard from them, and they come forward with full force. Frisk closes her eyes and braces herself for what's next, but nothing happens.

She slowly cracks open one eye, and then the other. A short figure stood in front of her, wearing a suit and tie. One hand was in their pocket, and the other one was resting on the rim of their black sunglasses. Frisk almost mistook them for another human, until she took a better look at their hand. And their face.

The skeletal hand took the sunglasses off of the figure's face, closing them with a sharp snap. Two black eyesockets with twin pinpricks of light in the middle of them scanned her up and down, and the bony ridges above them rose in astonishment. The mouth casually rose up in a grin, and the skeleton shoves his hands in the pockets of his pants. He takes the left one out, raising it up in a handshake towards Frisk.

"Hey kiddo. It's been a while. A long while." A twinkle shines in his eyesockets as he takes her in once more. "Welcome to Diamondlight City."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I'm back!**


End file.
